Has Pride been officially replaced with M-1?

I read in another thread that Pride might have been replaced with another name called 'M-1'? Is this official? Does anyone know what will happen to fighters contracted under Pride? Will they get to fight under the UFC banner or simply lost their contracts?

I see. Thanks for the info. I hope the incredible talents from Pride get to fight elsewhere. I know that Cro Cop and Sakuraba had fought at UFC before? But for some reasons they fight differently there, I guess the rules and arena might have affected they way they fought.

UFC owns the rights to all things Pride. M-1 simply partnered with Yarennoka to do the New Years show. Yarennoka though was basically started by all the people that used to work at Pride but were fired when the UFC dissolved Pride.

Shame. So Pride is a victim of its own success in a way. I read that Emelianenko will only be competing at M-1 and within the Russian circuit for now because UFC does not allow its fighters to fight for other events. And this will be difficult for Pride fighters who get invited to fight in foreign events.

Shame. So Pride is a victim of its own success in a way. I read that Emelianenko will only be competing at M-1 and within the Russian circuit for now because UFC does not allow its fighters to fight for other events. And this will be difficult for Pride fighters who get invited to fight in foreign events.

Do you guys think Yarennoka can replace Pride?

Hopefully with the financial punch behind it, they will do more than that. Their ruleset is cool, as well as their willingness to let fighters have more freedom. If you mean replace Pride as being the number one mma group like they were in their prime, then they have a long way to go as far as acquiring decent fighters. If they start taking some UFC big names, then things will get more interesting.